Today is day one of the SEC Tournament, in which the four bottom-dwelling teams will face of to find out who is the least bad. In case you missed it yesterday, check out JLeverenz's suggestions about ways to pick your brackets.

Tweet of the Morning:

Welcome to the day where no work gets done (it's OK). Big East tips off at noon. Pac 12 & Mountain West at 3.

— Dana O'Neil (@ESPNDanaOneil) March 13, 2013

Heh. Too right, that.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Alabama, LSU, Texas A&M; top 2013 SEC spring football storylines // SI.com

  Kentucky: Can new coach Mark Stoops reinvigorate a reeling fan base?
  Early indications suggest the former Florida State defensive coordinator will do just that. On March 4, Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart tweeted that 30,999 tickets had been distributed for Stoops’ first spring game. Considering Joker Phillips’ final spring game was essentially a friends-and-family affair, that’s a substantial jump in excitement for a fan base that has had little to cheer about before basketball season.

  I think next year we’ll be cheering. We may not be winning, but we’ll be cheering.

Kentucky basketball

• SEC Tournament doesn't always reward the best // The Tennessean

  But history puts up a pretty good argument here. Since the revival of the SEC Tournament in 1979, five conference teams have won national championships. How many of those won the SEC Tournament? Two — Florida’s back-to-back champs in 2006-07.

  Pretty interesting. The SEC Tournament tends to be fertile ground for the desperate, and the late-blooming. Will Kentucky be one of those this year?

• Calipari says next season will be different

  Pretty interesting comments from Calipari. I wonder what specifically he is talking about? Oh, to be a fly on the wall…

• Kentucky basketball's Willie Cauley-Stein has the stage // The Courier-Journal

  Teams don’t usually ride the play of big men to tournament success. Tournaments are all about the guards.

  If UK’s guards can continue to play better, Kentucky will have a chance to do some damage. WCS is important to that effort, but at this time of year, the mantra is, "It’s the guard play, stupid."

• Noel, Wiltjer Lead SEC Honors // UKAthletics.com

  Amazing to earn league Freshman of the Year honors after only playing half the league season.

  It’s nice to have the all-Freshman team honors, but the lack of All-SEC team honors is notable, mainly for the fact that UK’s absence is well-deserved.

• 3-point shot: John Calipari not a conference tournament fan // ESPN

  Kentucky coach John Calipari didn’t hold back his feelings about the SEC tournament. Calipari said the tournament is for the fans and noted a number of UK fans at the SEC tournament don’t normally get to Rupp. He said the conference tourney is just a prep for the next (NCAA) tournament. "I don’t like this,‘’ he said. "Three games in three days does nothing to prepare you for anything. I wish none of us had these tournaments.’’ …

  You think he’d be happy to have it this year. At least he’s consistent.

• UK basketball notes: Cal hopes honor motivates Wiltjer // Kentucky.com

  Wiltjer made five of 23 shots (two of 14 from three-point range) in last week’s games against Georgia and Florida.

  That’s just brutal. It sure would help our cause if he would return to early-season form.

• Could Willie Cauley-Stein turn into a Kemba Walker-like spark for UK in tourney play? // vaughtsviews

  I think Uncle Julius is a more likely candidate.

Other UK sports

• UK women’s basketball notes: Cats lacked ‘toughness’ in SEC losses // Kentucky.com

  In his UK team, Mitchell saw a lack of the "the kind of desire and the kind of toughness that you’ve seen the rest of the season."

  "Toughness" has really become the word of the year in Kentucky basketball, both men and women.

• Trevor Gott Breaks Career Save Record in Tuesday Win // UKAthletics.com

  Well done, Trevor. Well done indeed.

• Henderson's No-Hitter, Joiner's Bombs Lead to 18-0 UK Win // UKAthletics.com

  Now, that’s how you take down a rival. You drub them into a 5-inning mercy rule mass of protoplasm.

  True freshman pitcher Katie Henderson threw the ninth no-hitter in school history, striking out four batters with only one walk, while sophomore catcher Griffin Joiner went 4-for-4 with two home runs and a career-high six runs-batted in, as the No. 17/17 University of Kentucky softball team took down No. 24 North Carolina 18-0 on Tuesday at the UK Softball Complex.

Links posts

• John Clay's Big Blue Links // John Clay's Sidelines
• Morning Five: 03.13.13 Edition // Rush The Court
• The Morning Mix // Troy Machir, CollegeBasketballTalk

• John Clay's SEC Links // John Clay's Sidelines

  ETSU wants Phil Fulmer?

• Tom Leach // Wednesday Links

College football

• College football new playoff format won't have title sponsor // ESPN

College basketball

• No repeat of 2008 tournament // Gainesville.com

  This SEC Tournament marks the fifth anniversary of the Tornado Tournament in Atlanta when the Georgia Bulldogs won it all and earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

  That was such a screwed-up year all around. I’ll never forget watching Kentucky get beat by Georgia in that dingy little gym.

• Gonzaga, Duke, Indiana lead latest edition of Power Rankings // Luke Winn - SI.com

Other sports news

• Voisin: Kings' Patrick Patterson fits in fast with his new team

  Patrick Patterson describes himself as a movie fanatic who – gasp – enjoys doing homework. He earned a college degree in three years, for instance, by cramming extra courses and summer semesters into his basketball schedule. His interests are global and eclectic, and include reading a good book, playing video games, dissecting 1980s game tapes and evaluating films nominated for Academy Awards.

  I’ll bet you learn a lot about Patrick Patterson in this article that you didn’t know.

Other news

• Steubenville rape trial divides Ohio town // Yahoo! Sports

  Steubenville High has won nine Ohio state championships and ranks as one of the 20-winningest high school programs in the country. It plays in beautiful Harding Stadium, complete with a statue of a red stallion that shoots flames from its mouth. It’s perched on a hill high above the blighted downtown and abandoned mills along the river.

  There is a trial going on there now about a horrible incident. Read the whole thing.